Ignoring the fact that Republicans were shut out of writing the “stimulus” bill, George Stephanopoulos said Sunday that President Obama has been too bi-partisan.
“Some White House officials I talk to concede that he put too much emphasis on ‘non-partisan nirvana’ rather than on getting the job done,” Stephanopoulos said.
Then Stephanopoulos momentarily lost concentration and gave a more realistic assessment. “Because the White House set the goal of bi-partisanship, maybe even 80 Senate votes, this does have the feel of a failure, even though it’s a great success.”
Please allow us to make a pithy observation.
“The difference between the Obama administration and the Reagan administration? One has the fear of failure. The other had a failure of fear.
You can quote us.
This post was last modified on February 9, 2009
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The economy seems to get worse every day, but that makes it all the more important to see that the stimulus is properly done -- if it needs to be done at all.
Is Obama making a mistake by not make a bigger effort to see that the stimulus bill is a bipartisan effort?
During the election Obama promised change, specifically change in the way the political system works.
Wouldn't a big part of this change be to try to get Republicans and Democrats to work together on a stimulus bill at this critical time in our nations history?
Stumping along the lines of what Obama has been recently saying amounts little more than I won the election so I have a mandate from the people so we are going to do what I want to do.
How does that help encourage the Republicans to want to work with Obama?
All of the elected officials -- Democrats, Republicans, and Independents -- have the mandate of the people that elected them otherwise they would not be holding office.
Obama's line of reasoning that he has a mandate also forgets that he represents all the people that did NOT vote for him.
Although they might not have voted for him he still has a responsibility to them as well to not squander their tax dollars and to not ignore the law makers that they have duly elected.
http://www.weeklypoint.com/2009/02/09/obama-pushes-for-stimulus/